Bent Beyond Reality
by Optronix Prime
Summary: Post DOTM. The war is over with the Decepticon forces spread so thin that they're no longer a threat. Optimus' goal of peace is complete. Now nearly thirty years later, the Autobots live in peace, humans visiting as they please. The life-long goal of two friends Aven and Gwen finally get to meet their heroes; but when they do, they partake in an experiment that goes badly wrong.


The year is 2051 and the Transformers have been known to the public for nearly twenty-five years. They live in an extremely high-tech facility in Washington D.C. where humans are aloud to come and go whenever they please; though they must be sixteen to enter the base unless they have relations to the military branch known as N.E.S.T. The Decepticons were defeated before the Autobots came out into the open; Megatron's forces are strained so thin they could never come back and wage another full-scale war. The Autobots now live in peace and harmony upon their most beloved planet: Earth.

The annoying sound of a Hello-Kitty alarm clock buzzed loudly. Aven slid the curtain dividing the room over a foot or two. She glared at the empty bed of her younger sister. She's not even in here and couldn't bother turning of the damn clock?! Aven thought bitterly. She turned over under her comforter as the clock buzzed louder than the first time. Aven turned over again. She extended her hand, pulled it back, and then let the smiling plastic nightmare fly into the air briefly until gravity caught up with it and caused it to become a puzzle on the floor. Aven smiled lightly at her achievement.

But of course something had to interrupt her victory; that interruption came in the form of her four year-old sister Betty.

"Appy berfday Avee," Betty trilled with a toothy grin. "Mommy says you need tah get up!" Aven hadn't even heard the part about getting up because she was up. She had completely forgotten today was her birthday. Her sixteenth to be precise. Today was the day she had been dreaming about since the day she was old enough to scream "Autobots, roll out!" properly in a low, commanding tone.

"Hmm…is this clean?" Aven wondered quietly as she sniffed a ratty old t-shirt that was a hand-me-down from her father. Sure only old people wore anything other than jumpsuits, but being a "poor" family they couldn't afford jumpsuits. Deciding it was good enough, she threw it on along with a pair of her mother's old jeans from the '10's. Aven stuffed her toes into her father's faded combat boots, grabbed a jean jacket (that she should have thrown when she got it, mind you) from (again) the floor, and shoved passed her sister as she went towards the door. Once she reached the kitchen, Aven grabbed a slice of toast from a small pile and marched out the door.

"Avee," Betty called from the window. "Aren't ya gonna staying to cell-e-bray yer berfday?"

"Yeah. Tell Mom I'll be back later." Betty looked very down-heartened to hear that her sister wasn't going to hang around for her birthday. But Aven had things to do, places to go, and people to meet, well, 'bots to meet.

Aven grinned liked a giddy school girl from way-back-when. She had old photos of her dad hidden away in her room from when he was a kid. He looked so weird. He had worn this thing called "glasses" on his face, and had had a bunch of metal wires in his mouth he'd called braces. His hair was all over the place, not gelled back like everyone who's anyone did nowadays. And he also had to take a bus to school. A bus! Who does that anyways?

Aven crossed the street. She walked towards a small, oldies coffee shop. The door dinged open and Aven's friend Gwendlyn pranced out to meet her at the corner.

"Ya'll ready?" Gwendlyn practically shouted.

"I've been ready for six years, let's go." Aven paused as looked over at her friend. "And Gwen?"

"Hmm?"

"Please don't shout. I swear I'm not deaf." Gwen smiled.

"I would love to test that theory."

"I know you would." Gwendlyn's smiled widen.

"You know me, always happy to help."

They walked block after block after block.

"God I feel old," Gwen muttered, "only old people walk everywhere." Aven didn't say anything to this comment because she knew if she did they'd started yelling at each other.

"We're here!" Aven said, almost covering up her excitement. Gwen beamed over at her.

"I think the gate's this way," Gwendlyn announced as she pointed to a (ironically) yellow brick road. "What are the odds?"

"I dunno. It's probably to help the old, blind people find their way. They must have installed it just for you." Gwendlyn shot her a nasty look.

"Shut up." Aven rolled her eyes. They strolled up the path towards a grumpy military man sitting in a toll booth.

"Names," he barked.

"Gwendlyn Tian and Aven Morgan." He tapped his screen for a moment.

"Index fingers," he barked louder than before. Each girl held up their hand and he scanned it. "Both sixteen, both may enter," he grumbled more to himself than them. The gate buzzed open and they ran up the drive to a huge steel door. The thing must have been a least forty feet tall. Gwen shifted her gaze from the door to Aven.

"Are you ready to finally meet our heroes, the Transformers?!" she squeaked. Aven nodded. Gwen's smile flashed back onto her cheeks. "Ever-so-hot Sideswipe, here I come." And they shoved the human sized door open.

The shock that they had was so bad that Gwen looked ready to keel over and die. Aven played it cool with a simple look of mild interest on her face. Though on the inside, she was screaming "OH MY GOD! THERE'S JAZZ!" Aven couldn't believe her luck that her favorite Autobot was sitting in the hanger messing around with some sort of device. He let out a loud sigh.

"Hey Wheeljack! What is dis even supposed tah do? 'Cause Ay think Siders broke it."

"Sideswipe didn't break it…I hope," mumbled the inventor. "Give it here." Jazz threw the gadget across the room; Wheeljack caught it. Jazz turned his attention towards the two human females. One looked ready to pass out and the other looking like she wanted to get the hell out of there.

"Wow, Ay think dis is da earliest we've eva had visitors," Jazz pointed out. Wheeljack walked away without commenting. He grumbled under his vent that he had to re-wire the blasted thing again. Aven let a small smile slip on her face. "Aw good, ya do have some life in ya," Jazz added loudly. "I thought yer were one of doze stick-in-da-muds as you humans call 'um."

"I ain't no 'stick-in-the-mud' thank you," Aven said a bit more coldly then she'd intended. "And Gwen, stop pretending that you're dying 'cause it's really starting to get on my nerves."

"I don't believe I was corrected," Jazz stated with a smirk. Aven glared at him.

The door opened behind them and a flock of girls trapped in.

"Oh. My. God. Is that who I think it is?" one girl questioned loudly.

"It is," cheered another.

"What are you doing here Raven?" the tallest and prettiest of the girls stepped forward. "Finally old enough to ride the Mary-Go-Round?" Aven kept her face straight. She glanced back to see it Gwen had recovered. She had, but she wasn't there. Aven was alone.

"The only reason you're a loud in the park is because you wear eight-inch heels," Aven shot back.

"Listen here Raven my-"

"For the last goddamned time Trina, my name is Aven."

"I don't care," Trina stated snottily with another step forward. "This is my turf, and I suggest you and your ballerina get the hell out of here."

"Lemme guess, your daddy bought the place?"

"Of course. My daddy loves me. Where's your daddy? Oh yeah, he's in the middle of-"

"Say it and I swear I'll black your eye so bad no even your wretched make-up will be able to cover it up."

"-Hell," Trina finished.

"That's it!" Aven shouted. But before she could so much as sink a nail into Trina's arm, a large metal something grabbed Aven.

"Ay suggest ya'll scram before Ay decide that Ay'd like some pancakes fer breakfast." The gaggle of girls screamed loudly and bolted out the door with Trina in the lead. Aven turned over to see her savior. It was Jazz.

"Ay don't fight other peoples fights, but even Ay knew ya'll were outnumbered," he explained. "So yer Aven?"

"Yeah," Aven said with a nod.

"Meh name's Jazz." Aven let another small smile slip out.

"I know."

"By da looks of it, yer friend ran off tah find one of us." Aven nodded again. "So who are ya lookin' fer? 'Cause Ay'm in a pretty good position tah call 'em up."

"I bet you are," Aven commented airily.

"So who is it dat yer lookin' fer?"

"Actually, I already know where he is." It was hard to tell because of the visor, but Aven was positive Jazz was arching his optical ridge at her.

"And how would ya know dat?" Jazz asked suspiciously.

"'Cause I'm looking at him right now," Aven replied quietly as she looked down at her toes.

"Oh. So yer a fan of da Jazz man." Aven nodded yet again.

"I always have been," Aven mumbled to her boots. Aven's head popped up slightly and, she couldn't tell, but it looked like he was smiling.

"Well lil' lady, how long have ya been waitin'?" He asked as he raised her so they were eye/optic level.

"Six years," Aven answered easily.

"Six years? Geez, ya must be a patient kid. Most of da times we've got peoples breakin' in tryin' tah see us. It's a nightmare Ay tell ya. Ay wish all kids were like ya." A heavy blush crept over Aven's cheeks. She promptly stared down at Jazz's servo.

"Ya know, Mikaela told meh dat humans turn red fer one of three reasons. One: 'cause they're angry. Two: 'cause they're hot. Or three: 'cause they're embarrassed." At number three, Aven's face brightened in color. "I'm shootin' fer number three."

"Shush." Jazz chuckled.

"Ya had another girl wiff ya when ya arrived. Where'd she run off tah?"

"She's probably running around the base looking like she has her head cut off," Aven grumbled darkly.

"And why would she do dat exactly?"

"Because she's looking for, how did she put it again? Oh yeah, 'ever-so-hot-Sideswipe'." Jazz nearly dropped Aven because he started laughing, hard.

"'Ever-so-hot-Sideswipe'? Dear Primus, don't let him hear that! 'Is ego is big enough wiffout some human femme swoonin' over him," Jazz laughed coldly. "May I ask how smart your friend is?

"Truthfully, she's an idiot, but please don't tell her I said that." Jazz played an easy smile at her.

"Cross meh spark and hope tah be hit wiff a wrench by Ratchet." Aven grinned.

"Shall we?" Jazz asked with a sly grin.

"Lets," Aven answered with a grin to match Jazz's. Jazz placed Aven on his shoulder. The pair marched through the base until they reached a crowded room. It seemed everyone was in here.

"Hey ya'll!" Jazz greeted. "Anyone seen a human female that-" Jazz paused and turned to his companion. "What does she look like? Ay don't think Ay eva asked dat."

"Like a stereo-typical nerd," Aven replied brightly.

"No, why?" asked a low, familiar voice. Aven turned to see Optimus Prime staring at her.

"A-A-A" a stuttering mess lay at a large black mech's feet.

"Why is this organic attaching itself to me?" Ironhide barked in disgust. The 'bots and humans in the room turned to the weapons specialist.

"Gwen!" Aven shouted. "What the hell are you doing?!" The girl looked up.

"Aven!" she shouted. Several people covered their ears. "How did you-" she paused as her eyes grew. "YOU'RE ON-!" But before she could scream about Aven being on Jazz, Aven jumped off Jazz's shoulder, summersaulted several times, and landed perfectly on her feet. Everyone looked impressed. All Aven was worried about at the moment was shutting up her friend.

"Gwen! If you don't shut up, I'll tell everyone stories about when you were five!" Aven shouted over Gwen's muffled shouting. Gwen stopped talking. A muffled "you wouldn't" came from behind Aven's hand.

"You know I would," Aven countered. Gwendlyn glared at her. Aven removed her hand.

"Frag you," Gwendlyn growled.

"Ditto," Aven retorted. "Now why do you have to be such a geek?"

"It's in my blood. Now," Gwen said loudly as she snagged Aven's wrist, "help me find Senior Silver."

"Gwendlyn, you can find him on your own. I'm stayin' here to actually meet the Autobots, not show them I'm complete lunatic," Aven snarled as she yanked her wrist free.

"I'm not a lunatic!" Gwen practically shouted, her hands flying up to meet the air. Under her breath Aven mumbled,

"I would beg to differ." It seemed that a few of the Autobots heard what she said and chuckled.

"How about you ask them," Aven began as she gestured to the Autobots, "where he is. Then you're not wasting your-" Aven broke off when her friend turned on her heel and walked out the way she came. Aven sighed. "Why," Aven cried up to the ceiling, "why does she have to live on Cloud Nine?!" A voice chuckled. Aven turned to see a pretty woman in her late-thirties walking over to her.

"Yeah, your friend truly is somethin' else," she commented sincerely.

"You got that right," Aven agreed. "I beg your pardon, but who are you?" The woman smiled.

"I'm Annabelle Lennox." She extended her hand. Aven met it. "And you?"

"Aven Morgan," Aven shared as she shook Annabelle's hand. "Aren't you Lennox's daughter?" They let go of each other's hand.

"I am." Annabelle's eyes twinkled. "So who is your friend, umm, I believe you said her name was Gwen." Aven nodded. "Who is Gwen looking for? Not every Autobot is present in the base, so depending on her luck, she may be looking for a while". Aven laughed.

"I sure hope she's lookin' for a while. It'll keep her busy. And to answer your question, she's hunting down Sideswipe," Aven explained.

"And dare I ask why is she hunting down Sideswipe?" asked the yellow CMO from a corner. Aven shook her head.

"I wouldn't," Aven trilled.

"Well we're all going to find out eventually, so you might as well tell us now," Ratchet pointed out. Aven glared at him.

"Fine. One word: obsession." Several laughed, a few others made choking movements, one stared blankly at the floor; Annabelle grinned.

"Dear Primus," she said, shaking her head, "if she finds him we'll never hear the end of it."

"Someone has to stop her," Chromia pointed out. She was leaning on the wall next to Ironhide.

"I'll do it," Ironhide volunteered as he thumped out of the rec. room.

"Ironhide," Optimus called. "Do not scare her." Ironhide waved his servo to show he'd heard.

"So…" began Aven. "Now what?"

"I've fixed it!" Wheeljack shouted as he ran in. Everyone shared uneasy looks.

"Umm…fixed what, exactly?" Bumblebee as he trooped in with a pretty blue femme Aven didn't know.

"My latest invention," Wheeljack explained poorly.

"We've got that part. What is it supposed to do?" asked the femme Bumblebee had come in with.

"I have dubbed it 'Wheeljack's Playback Button'. Isn't it awesome!?" Wheeljack asked as he held it up.

"WHEELJACK!" the femme shrieked, "WHAT DOES IT DO?!"

"Geez 'Nix, no need to shout," Wheeljack pointed out.

"Actually, I'd be screamin' at ya too," a cool voice stated as a different femme dropped down from the ceiling. "I want to know whether I should be running for the hills screaming 'this is all Wheeljack's fault!' 'Cause I'm not getting blamed for another failed invention."

"It's not going to explode," Wheeljack said nonchalantly.

"Then what does it do?" Optimus asked calmly.

"I'm glad you asked," Wheeljack said happily. "What it does is it allows us to see into the past to learn from our past experiences. Like if I punch in the date June 17th 2016 we'll see the battle of that day so we could see what worked and what didn't work that day."

"Wheeljack," Optimus began slowly; "this is brilliant!"

"Thank you Optimus," Wheeljack said with a smile on his face. "Who wants to see it run?" Every human in the room fled minus Aven. Wheeljack was about to start it up when the door banged open.

"-believe you stopped me! Come on! I just want to-"

"Do you ever stop talking?" Ironhide interrupted her. Gwendlyn glared up at him.

"No. Now," and she started her rant right back up again like there was no interruption.

"GWENDLYN! You are irritating him!" Aven shouted up to her. Gwen paused. Ironhide shot her a grateful look.

"Then tell him to put me down!" she demanded.

"Only if you promise to wait in the rec. room with me."

"Fine," Gwen snapped after long moment and Ironhide set her down.

"Is everyone ready?" Wheeljack asked.

"If I die, when I came back, I'll murder you," the femme from in the rafters threatened.

"No need to so sound cheerful," the blue femme smirked over to the black.

"Yeah, yeah," she said lazily as she waved he servo back and forth. "Cheerful my aft. When you've died as many times as me, cheerfulness takes a back seat. You should try it sometime." The black femme moved silently over to be by Jazz.

"What, dying?" she asked, confused.

"Not caring," the black femme answered as she leaned back against Jazz. Aven noticed different colored neon stripes licking up her armor. And she had purple optics.

"If I didn't care then you'd only be on death one, so you better like the fact that I care," the blue femme with jet black lines retorted as she stepped towards her, blue optics ablaze.

"Okay, okay, I do, I do," she replied hastily. Before the blue femme could counter attack, Aven cut in.

"I'm sorry to intrude, but it's kind of hard to follow your argument when I have no idea who you are." The pair turned to look down at her and Gwendlyn.

"Oh Primus," muttered the black femme. The blue one smacked her.

"Manners," she growled.

"Manners," the black one mocked. The blue glared.

"I'm Optronix," the blue femme introduced. "And the femme with the foul attitude is Krystal."

"You weren't in the movies," Gwen pointed out.

"Yeah," said Krystal, a bit sadly. "They didn't like my attitude, and they thought it'd be too confusing to have an AutoCon in the movies. And Bay didn't like the fact that threatened everyone's life on a regular basis."

"Most people find it offensive," Ratchet commented.

"Then those people can jump in a lake," Krystal said with finality in her tone. Ratchet chuckled.

"I guess you're lucky we can take the threats," Bumblebee added as he snaked an arm around Optronix's waist.

"Yeah, yeah," Krystal drawled as she flicked her wrist in a 'whatever' manner.

"Is everyone ready?" Wheeljack asked.

"Light it," Jazz said. Krystal darted over to Optronix; she locked her servos together. Krystal placed her ped on them. Optronix pushed her up; Krystal snagged a beam, and scrambled up and out of sight. Aven looked around. No one seemed to notice Krystal's departure.

Wheeljack pushed several buttons and the machine lit up like a Christmas tree. A funny clunk-chunk noise emanated from it. Aven and Gwen were the closest to the device. The light reflexed off their eyes as they drew closer. They couldn't seem to break contact with it. A bright blue light shot out of it right at them. White light enveloped the inhabitants of the room, so they were blinded.

The light faded along with the noise. When everyone had adjusted their optic sensors, both human girls were gone.


End file.
